Free Republic

Famed civil-rights attorney Alan Dershowitz said Thursday that the Democrats "shot themselves in the foot" with their 25-hour demonstration for gun votes and that the "stunt" could hurt Hillary Clinton this fall. "I'm a liberal Democrat, supporter of Hillary Clinton," Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School professor emeritus, told CNN host Don Lemon. "They hurt her by making fools of themselves, sitting in on Congress and pulling this kind of stunt. "If Hillary Clinton is going to win, she's going to win because she has gravitas and because the Republicans are a bunch of buffoons. "Now, the Democrats are a bunch...

Officers in Connecticut last year fired stun guns at blacks and Hispanics at a higher rate than at white suspects, and warned but didn't fire at white suspects at a higher rate than they did blacks or Hispanics, according to preliminary data from the nation's first statewide accounting of the weapons' use by police.

The family of a 3-year-old killed in a northern Missouri house fire early Oct. 31 says it is outraged after police used a stun gun to subdue the boy's stepfather as he tried to run back into the burning house to rescue the boy. Riley Miller, the boy, died in the fire at the home in the town of Louisiana. A city police officer fired his stun gun at the stepfather, Ryan Miller, as he tried to re-enter the burning home. Authorities at the scene reportedly determined it was too dangerous to make an attempt to save the boy. "He...

Michael Smith and I have just filed an amicus brief that I drafted for Arming Women Against Rape & Endangerment (AWARE) in the Michigan Second Amendment stun gun case, People v. Yanna. As I noted in April, a Michigan trial court had struck down the Michigan stun gun ban on Second Amendment grounds; the case is now on appeal to the Michigan Court of Appeals. I quote below the body of the argument in the brief, minus the footnotes; but if youÂ’re interested in the issue, you might just want to read the PDF. The brief is built on the...

Things are getting dicey. While some States allow gun open carry and others allow concealed or both, many good folks just don't want to have to carry all the time. While I wish all good citizens would carry, here is an alternative for those who still would defend themselves and those innocents around them.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska, The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said biologists were unable to remove a rope from around a moose's neck despite employing a special wildlife stun gun. The department said biologists had the stun gun specially shipped to use on the Fairbanks moose, which has had the rope around her neck since she was pulled from the Chena River Jan. 2 by people who saw her fall through the ice, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Wednesday. The biologists said they attempted to stun the moose from 25 feet, the device's maximum effective distance, but the animal seemed unaffected....

His aunt says he is undergoing major surgery for a broken back and broken heel. While he was lying on the ground, she wonders why Ozark police used an electric stun gun on him up to 19 times. “I'm not an officer, but i don't see the reason for ‘Tasering’ somebody laying there with a broken back. I don't consider that a threat,” His dad says the use of the stun gun delayed what would have been immediate surgery by two days. “The ‘Tasering’ increased his white blood cell count and caused him to have a temperature so they could...

OZARK, Mo. -- A family wants answers about what happened to their son that left him hospitalized. Early Saturday morning, police found Mace Hutchinson, 16, underneath the Highway F overpass over U.S. 65. Mace ended up in intensive care at a hospital. His parents believe the actions of Ozark police officers contributed to his injuries and slowed doctors’ abilities to speed his recovery. “We called the police. My wife was afraid he was going to get ran over or hit,” said witness Doug Messersmith. Messersmith and his wife were the last known people to see 16-year-old boy walking, shortly before...

CHICAGO -- Police in Chicago are investigating an officer's use of a Taser on an 82-year-old woman. Police said the woman was swinging a hammer when they arrived at her home. They were called there after officials with the city's Department on Aging went to Lillian Fletcher's home last month to make a welfare check.

Cool, the first OFST of the new year. My only standing resolution was to make no more resolutions and I've already broken it. *shrugs*

US Air Force unveils hand-held laser gun By Michael Sirak JDW Staff Reporter Washington, DC The US Air Force has unveiled its first hand-held laser weapon that gives security forces a non-lethal option for controlling crowds and protecting areas like checkpoints, according to service officials. While only in prototype form and years away from fielding, the weapon, known as the Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response (PHaSR) system, holds great promise, they said. The PHaSR is about the same size and weight of a fully loaded M60 machine gun - around 9 kg - but shoots a low-power beam of laser...

Father, son arrested as Cheney motorcade passes By PATRICK LESTER Bucks County Courier Times Plenty of people had choice words for Vice President Dick Cheney as they waited in traffic for his motorcade to make its way through Bucks County Monday. But a 68-year-old Warwick man and his son, frustrated that closed roads prevented them from getting home, went beyond what police were willing to tolerate, and an officer used a stun gun to subdue the father before arresting them. Jay Saddington and his son, Randy, 36, both were arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest at York and Almshouse...

MIAMI (Nov. 13) - Miami-Dade police have acknowledged using a stun gun on a second youngster just weeks after subduing a 55-pound first-grader with a 50,000-volt shock. In the second instance, a 15-year-veteran officer used his Taser to immobilize a 12-year-old girl who was playing hooky from school. Police Director Bobby Parker defended the decision to shock the 6-year-old boy on Oct. 20 because he was threatening to injure himself with a shard of glass he was holding, but he said Friday that he could not defend the decision to shock the fleeing girl, who was apparently drunk. According to...

Weapons that can incapacitate crowds of people by sweeping a lightning-like beam of electricity across them are being readied for sale to military and police forces in the US and Europe. At present, commercial stun guns target one person at a time, and work only at close quarters. The new breed of non-lethal weapons can be used on many people at once and operate over far greater distances. But human rights groups are appalled by the fact that no independent safety tests have been carried out, and by their potential for indiscriminate use. Taser success rates by distance The weapons...

(WSBT) The City of South has made a move to get stun guns off the streets. Monday night, the Common Council passed an ordinance that bans selling or owning the weapons with-in city limits. Police also support the measure. They say in un-trained hands, a stun-gun can be a powerful force Officer's can't fight. "Now they're becoming more refined, a lot smaller, a lot lighter, and a lot more powerful," says South Bend Police Sergeant Scott Ruszkowski. "You know them being out there and being allowed to be out there, from a police officers perspective, there's no way to defeat...

Ancient tomb findings stun archaeologists www.chinaview.cn 2003-12-22 11:06:24 BEIJING, Dec. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- The finding of ancient tombs which may take up a total area of 1 million square metres in southern Beijing has surprised many archaeologists. Exploration of the first group of the graves, covering an area of around 200,000 square kilometres, has already started, with that into the rest five to six groups not yet scheduled, source with the Beijing Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau was yesterday quoted by the Beijing-based Star Daily. "Our preliminary prospecting indicates there are 40 to 50 ancient graves in the designated Group One,...

MANASSAS, Va. (AP) -- A sheriff's deputy shocked sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad with a stun belt after he refused to participate in medical tests at a hospital, his attorney said. Muhammad was taken by sheriff's deputies and guards from jail around noon Friday to undergo a court-ordered MRI and an electroencephalogram, which monitors brain waves. But Jonathan Shapiro, one of Muhammad's attorneys, told The Washington Post that hospital staff also wanted to X-ray the suspect's head before the MRI. Muhammad had not expected the X-ray and did not want to speak to sheriff's officials without his attorneys present,...